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Appraisal of complementarity of subsurface drip fertigation and conservation agriculture for physiological performance and water economy of maize

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Title Appraisal of complementarity of subsurface drip fertigation and conservation agriculture for physiological performance and water economy of maize
 
Identifier https://hdl.handle.net/11529/10548914
 
Creator Patra, Kiranmoy
Parihar, C.M.
Nayak, H.S.
Rana, Biswajit
Sena, D.R.
Anand, Anjali
Reddy, K. Srikanth
Chowdhury, Manojit
Pandey, Renu
Kumar, Atul
Singh, L.K.
Ghatala, Mahesh K.
Sidhu, H.S.
Jat, ML
 
Publisher CIMMYT Research Data & Software Repository Network
 
Description The Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP) in north-west (NW) India are facing a severe decline in ground water due to
prevalent rice-based cropping systems. To combat this issue, conservation agriculture (CA) with an alternative
crop/s, such as maize, is being promoted. Recently, surface drip fertigation has also been evaluated as a viable
option to address low-nutrient use efficiency and water scarcity problems for cereals. While the individual
benefits of CA and sub-surface drip (SSD) irrigation on water economy are well-established, information
regarding their combined effect in cereal-based systems is lacking. Therefore, we conducted a two-year field
experiment in maize, under an ongoing CA-based maize-wheat system, to evaluate the complementarity of CA
with SSD irrigation through two technological interventions–– CA+ (residue retained CA + SSD), PCA+ (partial
CA without residue + SSD) – at different N rates (0, 120 and 150 kg N ha-1) in comparison to traditional furrow
irrigated (FI) CA and conventional tillage (CT) at 120 kg N ha-1. Our results showed that CA+ had the highest
grain yield (8.2 t ha-1), followed by PCA+ (8.1 t ha-1). The grain yield under CA+ at 150 kg N ha-1 was 27% and
30% higher than CA and CT, respectively. Even at the same N level (120 kg N ha-1), CA+ outperformed CA and
CT by 16% and 18%, respectively. The physiological performance of maize also revealed that CA+ based plots
with 120 kg N ha-1 had 12% and 3% higher photosynthesis rate at knee-high and silking, respectively compared
to FI-CA and CT. Overall, compared to the FI-CA and CT, SSD-based CA+ and PCA+ saved 54% irrigation water
and increased water productivity (WP) by more than twice. Similarly, a greater number of split N application
through fertigation in PCA+ and CA+ increased agronomic nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) and recover efficiency
by 8–19% and 14–25%, respectively. Net returns from PCA+ and CA+ at 150 kg N ha-1 were significantly higher
by US$ 491 and 456, respectively than the FI-CA and CT treatments. Therefore, CA coupled with SSD provided
tangible benefits in terms of yield, irrigation water saving, WP, NUE and profitability. Efforts should be directed
towards increasing farmers’ awareness of the benefits of such promising technology for the cultivating food
grains and commercial crops such as maize. Concurrently, government support and strict policies are required to
enhance the system adaptability.
 
Subject Agricultural Sciences
Conservation agriculture Net returns Nitrogen use efficiency Photosynthesis Subsurface drip irrigation & fertigation Water productivity
 
Language English
 
Contributor KALVANIA, Kailash Chandra